


You Open Always Petal by Petal

by sieghart



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Language of Flowers, Misunderstandings, Mutual Pining, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:27:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23983789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sieghart/pseuds/sieghart
Summary: Rey is a florist-in-training under Maz's tutelage, has been for close to eight months, when a random customer threatens her apprenticeship with his ridiculous and oddly specific requests for flower arrangements.
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Phasma, Finn/Rose Tico, Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 10
Kudos: 50





	1. The One with the Passive-Aggressive Note

The door chime rang for all of five seconds when a towering man barreled inside Kanata Flowers, dressed in all black and pitifully drenched from the heavy outpour outside. He stood still by the glass door and grumbled loudly, “How do you say, in flower language, _I love you but back the fuck off_?!”

Rey who was busy transporting tall vases from the counter to the storage unfortunately dropped the one she’s holding due to the shock the _huge_ man caused in his uproar. It’s a Wednesday, a middle of the week slump in their business, a day when they don’t usually entertain any customers if they’re not regulars. Plus, it was raining so hard since that morning that the young woman figured she might as well clean their recent purchases and re-organize the shop as no customers will be coming in.

And yet here she was, looking down at the glass shards that gathered at her feet, hearing the stranger’s heavy breathing a few paces away from her and the steady _plop, plop, plop_ of droplets from his heavy coat to their wooden floor. Rey felt a nerve ticking on her forehead. She looked up and sent a sharp gaze to her _unwelcomed_ customer.

The man met her glare head-on with an equally intense gaze. He didn’t even look the least bit shamefaced for what he had done, nor for the fact that he’s now becoming the source of a big puddle inside their shop. The ticking nerve on Rey’s forehead grew even more bothersome. “What did you say you wanted?” gritted the young woman as she held herself back from spitting any venom and rather busied herself from tidying up the mess she made. Ah, the mess _she_ made due to the _big black oaf_ at their door. Sure, she was beyond annoyed but the breaking of the glass vase was partially her fault too, no doubt about it.

Rey felt the man exhaled as she pick up and arrange the broken pieces of their recently ordered vase on her apron (that’s one down in their inventory), careful as to not hurt herself from the sharp edges. She noted that his release of breath was also akin to a sigh of relief and she wondered if the strange customer had prepared himself if she did pick a fight with him then.

“A bouquet,” the man finally piped up in a deep, soothing tone. And then he coughed as if pained, “One that says—”

“Yes, yes,” Rey cut him off, not wanting for the cutting tension between them to be replaced with embarrassment if the man voiced aloud his ridiculous demand once more. If she heard him say _I love you but back the fuck off_ again, who knew if she wouldn’t let out a huge snort? And who also knew if he’d take lightly to her snorting? If he took offense, then she would’ve lost this one customer of theirs in their two-week long drought. No matter how troublesome he was, Rey would still entertain this man, for the shop’s sake at least. “We’ll be needing pink larkspur and yellow carnation, I think,” she mumbled.

“So no additional requests?” the young woman asked. And to the customer’s blank look, Rey added, “like the color of ribbon to use, any flower arrangement style you prefer, or even a style to copy from those?” She then pointed towards their display rack showcasing what they could offer for their customers.

The man’s eyes scanned their displays and turned back to her to say, “I’ll leave everything to your care. I’ve never—Maz usually just…”

At that, Rey’s heart started pounding hard. So he was Maz’s acquaintance! _Shitshitshitshit_ , her mind screamed remembering Maz’s tales of their one peculiar customer with strange requests of flower bouquets to gift his beloved wife. From her tales, the customer sounded to be an old and close friend of Maz’s and she always spoke of him with a wistful tone that led Rey into thinking that the man was long gone. But here he was, hale albeit looking very pale from his soaked black-tie attire. It turned out that the stranger was a regular customer after all and he has some expectations since he has been a patron of them for a long time, though from spying upon the man’s form and face again he didn’t look that old to Rey. The man has a very boyish long face, if anything.

Rey decided to quickly work on his order and took it as her personal challenge, making sure to live up to their tagline “flowers designed with your thoughts in mind” and not let Maz’s teachings of _hanakotoba_ fall through. Her mentor was on a month-long business trip and entrusted the shop to her, Rose was on sick-leave and Poe was working on an errand out in the storm. Rey crossed the shop to deposit the glass shards to the bin in the corner near their consultation area and then proceeded to her work station to take stock of any larkspur and carnations. Thankfully they were available, along with some petunias and heathers. She then set herself to work, not sparing the customer any more glance. It seemed that he was still rooted on his spot and she would’ve directed him to sit in their consultation area if not for his sorry wet state. No luck for him in her being hospitable that’s for sure—she still has her own principles outside of being Maz’s apprentice.

Rey made quick work of the man’s order, a simple flower arrangement for a simple bouquet with a not-so-simple message. When she looked up to call the man’s attention to her she was surprised to find that his eyes were still set on her. Did they never leave her alone all this while? The thought almost made the tips of her ears burn. Rey held up the finished bouquet for the customer’s inspection and he in return pressed his plump lips together and nodded, his left hand coming up to his chin to wipe his wet face with his wet hand. “I’ll ring this up,” she informed him and walked towards the counter.

“Add…” the customer trailed.

“Hmm?” the nerve on Rey’s forehead was threatening to tick again. Was he going to make a last-minute request just when she’s wrapping his order so neatly and be a difficult customer to the bitter end?

“Punch the broken vase to my receipt. I’ll never hear the end of it from Maz otherwise,” ordered the man, taking only four long strides from the door to the reception and to the counter for him to deposit his debit card near their register.

“R—right.” The young woman bit her lower lip before a _thank you_ slip out. From the corner of her eye, she spied the name on the card written as “Kylo Ren”. The events after were a blur as he reached for his order from her and his card, left a few bills on their tip-jar and let his long limbs carry him out the door, the bouquet carefully tucked inside his heavy coat and hunched form. The whirlwind that was him only left a trace of puddles on their floor and the ringing of the door chime. Rey let out a deep sigh, it was already a long day and it was not even past 12 noon.

The rainy season of Takodana was nearing its end as the rain they got on most days settle on a drizzle. Rey was busy changing the water from their displays when their glass door registered the silhouette of the strange man from two weeks ago. The young woman stopped in her tracks and made sure she was not holding anything when the man came inside. She watched him fold his umbrella before coming in and she folded her arms across her chest unconsciously.

“She got the message just fine, you know,” he blurted as he patted his shoulders dry from the light rain that managed to struck him when he was coming inside their shop. Rey wondered if it was his habit to talk to her without any prompt or greeting.

Still, she took it as it was and asked as she turned away from him and continued with her task at hand, “How did that work out for you?”

“Giving me the silent treatment right now.”

Rey felt her eyebrows shoot up as she whipped her head back to her unusual customer (the daisies forgotten for now). The man eyed her for a moment then shrugged with a slight tug from his full lips, and a small crinkle on his forehead. “Hey, it’s the expected reaction. And it’s what I’ve wanted, honestly.”

“Huh,” she mumbled dumbly. Wasn’t the point of giving flowers to make the other feel good about themselves? To make amends? Certainly not to give you the cold shoulder after? Although the flower arrangement she did conveyed a passive-aggressive message, she had added a single full bloom rose (I still love you) to soften the blow of heathers (solitude), yellow carnation (rejection), pink larkspur (fickleness), and petunias (resentment). Then again, it may be too much for any thinking and _feeling_ human, and Mr. Ren’s wife was knowledgeable about the language of flowers to boot, it would be impossible not to hurt her feelings even in the slightest bit. Rey felt the hairs on her left hand stood, she did feel sorry for taking part in the man’s twisted gift anyhow and she let him know about it through her raised brow and upturned nose.

“Peace and quiet is what I want from her. Sometimes.” The man sort of explained after a long silence from Rey. He did look chagrined and irritated by the huff he let out as he strongly jabbed his umbrella on their umbrella stand.

It was then the young woman’s turn to shrug. “What do I know, right? It’s what you paid for anyway and I’m just glad it worked.”

“Hmm,” and the man bobbed his head as he walked inside to examine the flowers on the counter waiting to be delivered by Poe. “Maz taught you well.”

Rey was pleased to hear it, even though it came from the strange man. “I try my best,” she answered modestly in the face of Mr. Ren’s intense gaze. Suddenly, Maz’s instructions for her to practice her sales talk came to her while the man continued studying the various finished flower arrangements at their right. Figured it wouldn’t hurt her to try with Mr. Ren now that he’s amiable and talkative, Rey stopped changing the water of the magnolias before her and strode to their counter. She leaned over it and crossed her palms over the flat surface of the counter.

“So, what’s the message this time?”

Mr. Ren glanced back to her and raised one single brow.

Rey raised _both_ her brows and waggled them suggestively.

To her surprise, the man gifted her an eye roll before puffing a breath that’s a cross between exasperated and amused. “It’s that obvious?”

“From the moment you walked inside, really. I mean, I know you’re not here to keep me company.” Rose and Poe were called out for an on-site service for a gala dinner rendering for her to be alone once again in their shop.

“That’s fair.”

Rey began to drum her fingers on the counter, anxious and excited for his ridiculous request that she’s now viewing as her own personal challenge to grow as a florist. “So what it’ll be?”

Mr. Ren finally acquiesced, hunching over next to her so he could look her in the eye, “It’s… hmmm… okay: _I know I’m an idiot, I’m sorry_.”

The young florist couldn’t fight off the snort that came out of her nose even if her life depended on it. Mr. Ren only shook his head as if to reprimand her.

“She’s real special, isn’t she?”

“Real piece of work actually. But I’m learning... you know, that I wouldn’t trade her for the world after all.”

Rey felt herself blush at Mr. Ren’s warm words for another and she had to look away from his piercing eyes. She wondered what that sort of intimacy felt like. She had been alone most of her life in Jakku. And when she was strong enough to finally leave that hellhole, she came to learn that the loneliness stayed with her, engraved deep into her bones, that even though she has found people she held dear (Finn, Maz, Rose and Poe) there were still times that the loneliness crept up to her like a barbed coil squeezing her heart. She looked around the shop and said without thinking, “Are you in a hurry? I still have tons of tasks to do first before I could do your order. Do you mind? Waiting for me?”

Mr. Ren looked at her for sometime until he began to slouch and drape his large form over their counter, his smart attire of muted browns and baby blues crumpling in on himself; he placed his right hand in an angle under his chin and affirmed, “I don’t mind. I’ll keep you company.”


	2. The One with the Falling In and Eventual Fall Out (Part 1)

Rey was running late to her shift, and as she walked in, Kanata Flowers was buzzing with people and their phone line ringing. Rose was busy accommodating two women who were browsing their catalogue of bridal bouquets and Poe was at his work station working on an order with a group of elderly Ewoks surrounding him and giggling like a flock of high school girls over a gossip. Her co-worker took one look at her and pointed towards their work phone.

_On it,_ mouthed Rey, foregoing removing her peacoat for now to rush over their counter. She grabbed the handle and blurted breathlessly to the mouthpiece, “Good morning! Kanata Flowers. This is Rey speaking. How may I help you?”

The voice on the other end was a familiar mix of soft and deep, “So you do greet your customers.”

Rey swallowed, knowing who exactly was on the other line. “I’m plenty polite if I wasn’t being startled, you know.”

Mr. Ren snickered. “Right, right. You’re a bundle of nerves the first time we met.”

The first time they met was a month ago. And the last the young florist has seen of him was a fortnight ago when he kept her company all afternoon before collecting his order. Rey scoffed as her reply, more so for the fact that she was surprised at herself for keeping count than for the man’s teasing.

Nevertheless, Mr. Ren took it as her flat response not knowing her inner musings and he mumbled jerkily to the phone, “Sorry I surprised you.”

The mere fact of physically apologizing seemed to be a foreign concept to this man, thought Rey as she heard him breathe harshly through his phone’s mouthpiece. No wonder he was weird too when it came to expressing himself in the language of flowers. And that brought a smile to the young florist.

“Nevermind about that. What’s your order?” She rapped enthusiastically over their counter.

“Oh, yes. Well, I wanted a bouquet that says _fuck you to hell, I’m done, I’m out of here!_ ”

“What?!” shouted Rey, now gripping the telephone cord hard within her left hand. She recognized her heart beating out of her ribcage over the bomb the man has dropped to her.

Did Mr. Ren and his wife’s relationship deteriorated so fast that the apology bouquet wasn’t enough to salvage things? Mr. Ren sounded confused on the other end, “What ‘ _what_ ’?”

The young florist’s voice sounded panicked to her own ears when she let slip, “Isn’t this bouquet for your—”

Mr. Ren immediately cut her off in a booming voice that implied he finally understood what her surprise meant, “Oh, no, no, no! This bouquet… it’s… I’m resigning from my post. Effectively immediately. And I wanted to send my superior a message that’s equally graceful and unhinged.”

A moment of silence. And then Rey squeaked an “Oh.”

The man sighed over the phone. Then he sniffed. He snorted after, which became a full-on laughter by the end. “What were _you_ thinking?” he said in between chuckles. “Wait, I know _exactly_ what you thought. And it’s never gonna happen. I’m never getting rid of her, and believe me, I’ve tried so hard in the past.”

So Mr. Ren and his wife were _not_ breaking up. That’s well and good. Rey was relieved to hear it even though she couldn’t calm the erratic beating of her heart and the many questions she wanted to raise after those loaded things he said. The young woman began to relax her hold on the phone cord and said lightly. “You said it yourself, you’re an idiot.”

Another snort. “I know.”

“So, would you like those arranged in a basket or a vase?”

“Hmmmm. A basket would be perfect. That’s another layer of meaning, come to think of it.” Mr. Ren was now speaking rapidly, as if his thoughts were running a mile a minute and he had to blurt them out for fear of forgetting them, “I’ll send the address to where you should deliver as a response to your confirmation of my order. My email is [kylo.ren@republic.gov.oc](mailto:kylo.ren@republic.gov.oc). Did you get that?”

“Uhm, yes, yes,” answered Rey as she hastily scribbled down Mr. Ren’s contact detail on Rose’s porg sticky notes.

“And oh, in the bouquet’s card, can you add, _To the Supreme Chancellor_?”

“Yes, no problem.” Rey replied distractedly as the pen she’s using was running out of ink and she was still writing down the last of Mr. Ren’s email address that by the time she finally registered his last request, the man snickered one last time before bidding her goodbye.

The line was already dead before the young florist shouted again her surprise. “The fucking chancellor?!”

Phone still clutched next to her ear, Rey looked around the shop to gaze at her friends Poe and Rose, feeling quite dazed. She realized belatedly that all of the shop’s occupants’ attention were on her, not just her coworkers. Rose’s face was crumpled in discomfort.

“Uhm… Rey, you pressed and l-left the _speaker_ on?”

Oh, there it was. The oncoming headache for the young florist.

Business didn’t end until past 10pm that day, their flower shop’s usual fare on a weekend with a holiday coming up. As Takodana was generally a neutral planet and quite distant from galactic politics, their world became a popular departure point that offered easy access to trade routes that connected the Inner and Outer Rim, which meant that their business’s account book was on the green, so long as they could milk their on-season events accordingly. Rey was lying down on the sofa in their office-cum-lounge area, whining low and nursing her headache that worsened after the day’s work and the measly lunch she had, taking turns to eat with Rose and Poe due to the influx of their customers, and that one particularly demanding order from one _special_ patron. The three of them didn’t have any dinner yet which was why when Rey heard Finn’s loud voice from the design room, she thanked the heavens and all the gods there may be. Finn was synonymous to _food_ in Rey’s vocabulary—something she associated him with when he helped her survive the barren wasteland that was Jakku. Finn was _food_ simply because Rey probably wouldn’t be able to live longer without him. He had helped her so much in the past two years, had become her emotional support to abandon Jakku and all the painful things that planet and the memories in it had inflicted on her, to seek a “greener pasture”. That greener pasture was Takodana for the two of them. Finn had been in a long-time correspondence with someone living in the planet, Rose Tico, whom knew of their circumstances as scavengers and off-the-bat invited the two of them to come live with her and her sister Paige to start anew (without even expecting anything in return, a concept so foreign to Rey having known only Unkar Plutt’s firm hand and shady dealings). From then on, Finn worked with Paige as a forest ranger near the Nymeve Lake Reservoir while Rose helped her get employed under Maz Kanata. She never thought that from working with dead discarded parts, she’d be able to work with beautiful living things, and for that, she’d be eternally indebted to Rose even though should the woman hear about it, Rey would definitely receive a scolding.

Unaware of her recollections, the aforementioned florist came barreling to the office with a huge smile and with Finn in tow holding bags of what looked like takeout from Bazine’s Diner.

“Peanut!” “Rey!” The two of them said in unison. Rose rushed to Rey’s side as the young woman lifted her hands for Rose to pull.

“Our big baby! Come on, get up and get your fill so you can take your medicine,” said Rose.

“Delivery for you hardworking guys!” Finn chimed in, walking straight towards the long table across the sofa and proceeded to open the cabinets to get dinnerware. “When is Maz coming back anyway? Wasn’t she due to return this week?”

“She was on a business trip in Andui for a month. And then decided to go offworld to visit other suppliers in the Outer Rim. She couldn’t say when she’ll be coming back but she’s sure it’ll be within _this year._ ” Rey then walked to the table to swipe some baked dru’un slices off one of the takeout boxes but Finn slapped her hand away. Too bad for him, she has two hands, and the other one was busy covertly reaching for the trikaloo, but that hand was also deterred this time by Rose.

Rey scowled. “Ugh, no fair. Poe! Get your sexy ass here, and say those graces, because these lovebirds wouldn’t let me eat!”

“Coming, love!” shouted the man who was busy closing up their shop.

Rey rolled her eyes and helped Finn (who was sniggering and mumbling, _he saw the opportunity and took it_ ) and Rose (elbowing Finn) set the table.

“So how’s the shop? Maz made you in charge, _indefinitely_ , right?” asked Finn as he settled on the chair nearest the door. “Rose said busy days are coming in because of the Feast Day and Poe has been chatting me endlessly about his customers’ creepy requests and borderline harassment.”

To that, Rey heaved a deep breath and released it after a while. She hunched over the table to place her head in between her hands.

“Oop, that bad huh?”

“You haven’t the _slightest_ idea, bud,” Poe answered for Rey as he pulled a chair to join the three of them at the table. “Remember the guy that requested the _back-off flowers_? Turns out that he’s a VIP.” The man then reached for Rey’s right hand and Finn’s left hand and the rest of them followed suit to hold their hands in a circle to say their graces before their meal. Through it, Finn directed a raised a brow at Rey and the woman hid from it from closing her eyes and immersing instead in Poe’s prayer.

And yet, the backstabbing florist ended his prayer in a rush in his hurry to tell his tale. Rey hoped the gods punish him for that. “And not just any VIP at that,” Poe continued as if there was no interruption that happened. “But more of a Galactic Republic VIP. Someone who brushes shoulders with none other than the Supreme Chancellor.”

Rey couldn’t help the sound of her gritting teeth to let out in a succession, _tsk tsk tsk._ It clashed with Finn’s audible gasp that almost sounded like he’s choking so Rey lifted her head to see that her best friend was indeed choking by the way he was pounding on his chest and Rose pounding his back. He pointed his fork with glazed kell at Rey’s person and in a voice reaching octaves repeated, “the Supreme Chancellor?”

“Not _the_ Supreme Chancellor, just someone who works for him,” downplayed Rey. Talking about _him_ brought to the young florist’s mind Mr. Ren’s interesting long face and his penetrating hazel eyes. There was a misplaced feeling of disappointment for him, and because Rey couldn’t rationalize well as to why she was disappointed at her challenging customer, it remained a dull ache in her chest.

“He might as well be the Supreme Chancellor with the way you’re shifting your eyes Peanut.”

“It’s just a lot to take in the first time I’ve heard of it. Rose and Poe couldn’t even shut up about it _hours_ after our call finished, customers be damned,” Rey deflected with a shrug and glared at her co-workers who both flinched and sent her uneasy smiles; she then opted to reach for the baked dru’un slices and trikaloo that she was denied earlier and jabbed each a piece to place them inside her mouth and start eating. In between chewing, she added with a confidence she wasn’t feeling at the very least, “He’s still a customer in the end, with a higher status and good connections, I might say, and definitely a penchant for weird orders, but they’re nothing I can’t handle.”

With her as cue, the rest of her friends started eating too. Finn beamed at her softly, the crease on his forehead a telltale sign that said he wasn’t convinced. “We do have faith in you, especially Maz. But if you encounter any problems with him, any at all, then don’t be afraid to reach out, okay?”

“I promise,” said Rey earnestly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- woah, woah, a lot of eagle-eyed readers out there *wink wink*  
> \- thank you so much for taking a chance on this fic!!!  
> \- comments and kudos are most definitely welcomed /kisses

**Author's Note:**

> \- title from somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond by e.e. cummings  
> \- figured if I don't post it now I never will, so here you go!  
> \- please let me know what you guys think about this~! thank you~!!!


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